Airline dismisses false reports on plane maintenance

The aircraft that crashed on Monday did not require repairs in a component called the pickle fork, an executive of China Eastern Airlines said.

Liu Xiaodong, head of the company's publicity department, responded at a press conference on Thursday to rumors the Flight MU5737 crashed because the company had repaired the pickle fork, a component that connects wings to the fuselage, of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft by itself.

He said the crashed aircraft was 6.8 years old and flew a total of 8,986 flights, far from the inspection standard of 22,600.

In 2019, the US Federal Aviation Administration ordered the inspections of 38 Boeing 737 NG planes, including 737-800s, because of cracks found in the planes' pickle forks. There was only one aircraft with China Eastern Airlines' Yunnan branch that underwent inspection at that time. The technicians from Yunnan worked with Boeing to give a professional joint inspection for the aircraft, which met the airworthiness standards of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. The aircraft that received inspection was retired in September 2020.

Liu also added to ensure safety, the maintenance costs of China Eastern Airlines in 2021 have increased 12 percent compared with 2019, dismissing reports the airlines cut costs due to COVID-19.

The flight, departing from Kunming in Yunnan province, crashed en route to Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, with 123 passengers and nine crew members onboard.

The investigation of the cause is still ongoing, and Liu said the only authoritative information cause is coming from the investigation team.

China Eastern Airlines has temporarily grounded 233 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and carried out inspections with the highest safety standards to ensure their airworthiness, he said, adding all passenger planes in operation meet the safety and airworthiness standards of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.